Moments That Change Us
by nicknames18
Summary: One moment everything is right in the world, the next it isn't. How will Santana cope with this change and will it change her for the good or the bad? Army!Pucktana friendship. Eventual Brittana and a side of other relationships.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own glee, just my ideas

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Santana Lopez was sitting in a little cafe with her best friend, Noah 'Puck' Puckerman, in a small coastal town in the north of Australia. If anyone had told either of them in high school that they would be best friends and serving in the army together they would have laughed in their face and most likely swung a punch at them or shoved them into a locker. But it had happened since they were both placed in the same unit after passing basic training. And then assigned as bunk mates as they completed the rest of various other training, were they learnt to put their past behind them.

###

You see in high school Santana was known as one of the skanks. A group of girls who didn't fit in with the social cliques and were often found behind the bleachers drinking and smoking, God knows what. No one dared to really bother them as they weren't known to be the most social of people or the nicest and were often getting into fights with anyone, in and out of school. Then causing them to spend a good portion of their high school careers outside of the principles office and not in lessons.

Santana was also known to have a temper, which could often cause her mood to do a 180 in a matter of seconds. No one really knew the reason behind why. Until she got a bit drunk and emotional one night when she was off for a few days in Amsterdam with the rest of her squad and blurted out the reason to Puck. Who then sat with her, calming her down and telling her that he would always be there for her from now on, no matter what as that is what best friends are for. After that it was never really mentioned again on purpose, as Puck knew how badly it effected her. But he was always there for her when it did get to her.

She joined the army because she didn't know what to do with her life and wanted for once in her life, to do something that would make her parents proud of her. As well as give something back to those who had helped her and been kind to her for the last couple of years. Plus it meant that she would learn some awesome life skills, that she wouldn't of learnt of otherwise. Having decided this when the final bell went to signal the end of her high school career she emptied her locker and dumped everything in the nearest bin, before emptying her pockets and walking to Lima's Army recruitment office. And as they say the rest is history.

Now Puck is a totally different story in high school he was a jock. He was a badass, who was on top of the social ladder being the schools running back for the football team. He through the most epic of parties throughout the school year. Slept with nearly the entire upperclassmen who were on the schools cheerleading squad. But could never hold a relationship for more than a few weeks or a couple of months at best, so gave up hope with them.

The most important things to him were his mum, Linda, and his little sister Sarah. They meant the world to him. So when he finished his last day of school he went partying and forgot to pick Sarah up from a friends house. The next day when he got home his mum shouted at him and told him how disappointed she was in him. It nearly made him go off and do something reckless for making her feel like that and letting Sarah down. But on the way to the gas station for some unknown reason he decided to take the long way. He was then driving down the high street and looked out of his window and saw the recruitment office and thought why not. To him it was a way to escape Lima, make something of himself, make his mother proud and protect those he loved. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life.

###

This was there last day on leave before they had to head back to base. So they were making the most of a relaxing environment before being thrown back into their hectic and important jobs. Before the squad had split to go their separate ways to spend their few days on leave, they had been briefed that they would be departing for Afghanistan when they got back, to relieve another squad from their 6 month rotation tour there.

For the squad it wasn't their first tour to Afghanistan, but for Puck and Santana it was their fifth time there. This was as the squad had been put together two years ago when Santana's and Puck's sergeant had decided they had enough of the action and wanted to transfer to a desk job, so that they could start a family with their fiancee. At the time Santana had just been moved up the ranks to a corporal, so she couldn't just yet be in charge of the squad. Because of this they put someone who was thinking of retiring after a year in charge to be able to assess Santana on her leadership skills to see if she had the capability to lead it. A year later she was a sergeant with Puck being a corporal.

Who would of thought that a girl dubbed in a group who would do nothing with their life, would become a sergeant in the US army. Or that the badass jock who had no clue what to do with his life would be a corporal, and said sergeants best friend after never speaking for 4 years only knowing of each others existence.

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 **Hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Should I carry on with it? Let me know**


	2. Chapter 1

"Yo Lezpez get up we gotta go in like... 15 minutes to get to base on time" Puck says in a loud voice with a devilish smile on his lips, as he comes out the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

"Err remind me again why I'm friends with you when you call me names like that" Santana groans from beneath the pillow she placed on her head, before popping it out and glaring at Puck.

"Duh its 'cause ya love me and find my body insatiable" he grins with a smirk as runs his hands down his chest and does a ridiculous pose.

"Look Puck we've been over this before, your just not my type" Santana replies in the most serious voice she can muster.

"Aww come on I'm everyone's type" Puck says with a pout on his lips.

"I'll remind you that you said that next time we go to a gay bar and you get hit on by guys" with that they burst out laughing.

Once the both stop laughing Puck speaks again otherwise knowing his friend she will fall asleep again and it ain't good for the sergeant to not be on time or early. "Ok we know have 10 minutes and you need a shower" .

"Alright I'm up and I'm going" Santana groans as she makes her way to the bathroom with the clothes she laid out before going to bed last night.

On her last day of leave she always packs her bag and collects her stuff into one, so she can grab it. She found out during her first leave it was a lot easier to do it that way instead of rushing around like a headless chicken with 20 minutes to pack and leave for base.

 **Flashback**

 _Santana hears an annoying beeping sound coming from her left. It takes her a few minutes for her foggy brain, due to sleep, to clear and realise it is her alarm. She immediately looks at it and realises she has 25 minutes to get up packed, showered and dressed and leave._

 _"SHIT" she shouts out loud and jumps up with her duvet still wrapped around her body, almost causing her to face plant the floor. Luckily she just manages to get herself unwrapped and too her bag unscathed._

 _It takes her 10 minutes to shower and get back out to her bedroom, in her army fatigues with her hair up in a tight bun. She quickly grabs everything that is hers and in sight and stuffs it into her bag, foregoing folding any clothes. It takes her another 5 to gather everything and another 5 to make the bed and room respectable, to be seen by who ever has to sort it out._

 _Once this is done she puts her boots on, grabs her bag and legs it down the stairs to hand in her key to the room at reception. She then sprints out the door and to the bus stop where she can see the bus that is there to take her back to base. Luckily on her first day of leave she found an alright, not to expensive hotel 5 minutes walking distance from the bus stop which suited her greatly._

She only just got to her base on time. Most of the others in her squad at the time had got an earlier bus there that morning.

###

They got to the earlier bus that would take them onto base with a few minutes to spare. And for once they were there before the bus actually got there.

"So you get with that girl last night" Santana asks glancing up from the book she was reading and over to her friend.

"Now why would think that a good little Jewish boy like myself for one would ever do something like that" Puck turns to her with shocked expression on his face.

"One I know you, two you aren't that little down there and three you sounded like rhino coming in at God know what time this morning. I'm actually surprised you were up before me" Santana responds with a full blown out smirk on her lips.

"Touché" he smiles. "And for your information I did not get with that girl, but I did get her number and we just sat around in this quiet little bar that she took me too after you left".

Santana turns with an incredulous look on her face, before examining her best friends face for any trace that he is joking. "What do you mean you didn't get with her, did you hit your head last night, she was fucking hot!".

"I know, I know she was but I didn't hit my head. We just got talking and didn't stop. She's from fucking Ohio, I mean what are the chances of meeting someone out here from there. She told me that she is a teacher and has been out here since the beginning of the school year and that she is moving back to the states soon". Puck states in a rush, almost to quickly for Santana to actually understand what he is talking about.

"OMG you like her! You've only just met her" Santana exclaims. "Ah I can't wait for the rest of the squad to hear this". Santana laughs out evilly.

"Do it I don't care" Puck says with a nonchalant shrug.

"Aww my baby boys growing up" She says in her best baby voice as she pinches his cheeks. She then turns serious for a moment "I'm glad for you really, just make sure once we get back home that you do call her".

"I will. Anyway you get any hot lady action last night?"

"Nope wasn't really in the mood just wanted to have one last relaxing and quiet night to myself, before I have to go back to being Sergeant Santana Lopez of the U.S. Army." She says with a shrug, when actually her mind last night was on their latest deployment. That was happening today when they step onto base. For some reason she has just got this feeling, that something bad is going to happen in the near future.

"Cool" he responds. After this the rest of the journey goes pretty quickly with Puck falling asleep and snoring and Santana reading her book.

###

"I hope you all had a good few relaxing days on leave" Sergeant Major William Schuester tells Santana's and Puck's squad. "Now as of 1300 hours today you are being deployed to Afghanistan, to relieve another squad. This means you have 3 hours to collect all the gear you need and be on the tarmac on time help carry cargo onto the plane". He speaks loudly to the group of soldiers.

"Yes Sir" the squad says.

"Ok, everyone is dismissed. I hope you all have a safe time over their and come back. Good day." With that the Sergeant Major walks off to the murmurs of the squad thanking him and saying bye.

"Alright you know what to do, grab your stuff and something to eat for lunch and meet on the tarmac." Santana addresses her squad.

"You got is boss" a short guy about 5ft5 called Connor says cheekily back to Santana. Everyone sniggers at that as they know she hates to be called that. As soon as he turns to walk to go collect his stuff he gets hit on the back of the head by Santana's hand. Which then sets the whole squad off laughing again.

"Enough of joking around we can do that later once we are all packed and ready" Santana says going back into leader mode.

With the promise of being able to have a laugh before leaving and catching up on things, the squad hurry about doing their things.

###

It takes everyone about an 2 hours to sort their stuff out and meet on the tarmac. As per usual Santana and Puck are the first ones there, with Puck dozing with his hat on his face.

The two hear the rest of the squad before seeing them. The squad consists of 10 people, including Santana and Puck. There is Connor the short guy with a goaty, Jared a quiet guy from Texas with a strong southern accent, Jack and Joe identical twins from Minnesota, Amy a brunette with long curly hair from Alaska, Jordan a surfer from California, Blake a girl from the Bronx in New York City wanting to make a difference and finally the baby of the group Nick, who is also from New York City.

Together they are quite a rambunctious group and there is never a dull moment between them. Other squads hate being pitted against them in any type of game, as they are extremely competitive and more often than not win.

"Yo Serg how was your few days off?" Nick asks always being the most pleasant of the group.

"Yeah get any action with some nice, hot girls?" Jordan pipes in. It was common knowledge in the group that Santana was a lesbian and no one held anything against her for it. Well maybe Puck sometimes when she steals the girl he wants when they go out to bars. But it is all just friendly banter.

"Nope, sorry guys got no stories to tell this time."

"Aww really?" Jordan asks.

"Yeah but Puck here got a really hot girls number and didn't even sleep with her or make a move" Santana says to the squad. Most of them with shock written across their face not believing what they are hearing, as it is known for Puck to have some wild nights when on leave.

"What?" Jack and Joe say in unison. Yeah they do that sometimes it can get a bit freaky.

"Yeah apparently they just sat and talked in a quite bar most of the night after I left him."

"Nah I'm not believing it" Blake says with a head shake.

"Well you might cause it happened" Puck responds.

"Did he hit his head?" Amy asks causing he group to laugh.

"No I didn't. What happened was I met a girl we talked, I got her phone number she told me to call her when I get back to the states, as she is only out here teaching for the school year. I said ok we talked about some other stuff then we went our separate ways" Puck says in a huff.

"Aww is Puck going to have a tantrum" Connor says giving Puck a patronizing pat on the head, before jumping up and running with Puck hot on his heels. The squad laugh and watch them for a bit before talking about what the others had done.

Not long after that there plane came in, so they gathered all there stuff and loaded it on before they helped with other things. Just as they were taking off Santana and Puck did like a secret hand shake, which was their way to calm each other for the up coming task ahead. And off they were to Afghanistan once again.

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 **Hope you like the chapter**


	3. Chapter 2

After an 11 hour flight they are finally able to stand up and stretch. Thankfully for Santana over the last 6 years in the army she has developed the capability of sleeping anywhere, allowing her to get a good rest.

As soon as they step of the plane they are immediately struck with the heat and humidity of the country. Even though it is like 9 at night. Due to the many times they have been here Santana and Puck have managed to experience all 4 seasons and have agreed that the summer and winter are the worst two seasons. This is as in the summer it is very hot, dry and dusty and in the winter the temperature drops to extremely low. Luckily for them they have arrived at the end of winter so it is starting to warm up to a nice temperature for the spring before it gets too hot.

"Right gather your shit and lets go find our bunks" Santana tells the squad when they are all awake. She receives nodding head as most of them are half asleep still and not really with it.

They all walk over to the set up command centre and are told that they are in 4D. The squad then unpack all there necessary items and some personal ones in the area assigned to them. Once they have all settled they say night to each other and go to their bunks for an early night, as they will most likely be up early tomorrow morning.

###

The morning came quicker for Santana than she wanted. For some reason she found it hard to relax and sleep. But she put on a smile and got up to have some food before the guys in the squad ate it all. As they are like bottomless pits.

"Hey Amy what's for breakfast" Santana asks as she spits her first with bowl full of something.

"Its porridge" Santana pulls a face at this. "Serg it is really good though. Try some" Amy says whilst holding out her spoon.

"That is good. Were can I get some?" Santana hums as she passes the spoon back.

"Go through that tent over there" Amy points to a tent in front of them to the right.

"Thanks Amy. See you in a bit, when I tell ya what we are doing today". Santana shouts over her shoulder as she jogs away.

###

"Ok guys today we have been put on helping a local village to build a new school, as the material they need for it has arrived" Santana says after talking to the command centre.

"Awesome" Jared says."I've always really enjoyed making things" he then absent-mindedly says causing everyone to laugh as they never pictured the Texan born guy to like building stuff, as they always see him writing in a book or reading a book.

" Alright well everyone gather there things meet back here in 15 and you'll be assigned things to do when we get there" Santana says as she is the first one to recover. The squad go and grab what they need whilst Puck hangs back with Santana.

"You alright San" he queries whilst studying her.

"Yeah just didn't sleep very well last night is all".

"Ok, cool. But if anything is bothering you, you know I'm here for you" he says his voice having a hint of seriousness to it.

"I know and I'll never forget that you are" she responds patting him on his chest and walking in the direction of the bunks. "You coming or are you just going to stand there day dreaming with a squirrel on your head" she laughs as she breaks out into a jog knowing he'll come after her for that comment.

Puck scowls and breaks out into a sprint to catch her. "Oi Lopez I will catch ya" he shouts but she just laughs and carries on running to her bunk.

###

"Morning Sergeant" a corporal who looks to be in charge of assigning people says when she exists the truck.

"Morning corporal".

"Ok, can I have 5 people on digging the foundations, 2 on carrying material to the correct places and 3 on making chairs and tables" he asks Santana while looking at his clipboard with the lists of jobs on.

"Yeah sure. Myself, Puck, Jack, Jordan and Jared will dig the foundations. Connor, Blake and Amy can do the tables and chairs. Leaving Nick and Joe who can do the carrying of material" the squad nods in agreement. " If you want at lunch you can swap but for now that's the job roles" Santana commands.

They then all put there gear down that they don't need and get to work.

Its a hot day and the children who are not helping there parents or helping build the school are passing water out to everyone. A young girl who looks about 13 is handing out water to those digging the foundation.

"Thank you" Santana says politely to the girl. "Hey, what's your name?" She asks when she hands the cup back.

"Tamira" the girl says.

"That's a nice name. I'm Santana" she says holding her hand put it shake the other girls hand, who reciprocates the action. "So, what do you want to be when you grow older?" Santana queries as she rests her arms on the shovel she is using.

"Mmm I think I want to be a doctor, so I can help people get better" Tamira responds shyly.

"Wow, well I think that is a great thing to do" Santana smiles back, loving the girls aspirations. They carry on chatting for a few more minutes before Tamira's name gets shouted by her mother telling her to come get something to eat.

"Well it was nice meeting you Tamira. I hope you do become a doctor as the world could always do with a few more" the girl grins at Santana's words before saying bye and waving back to her as she runs off to her where her mother is waiting.

"You're always so good with children" Puck whispers in her ear behind her making Santana jump and swing her fist into his stomach.

"Fuck that hurt" he says doubled over, making everyone around them laugh.

" Well next time Puck don't sneak up on me" Santana says with sass before going back to work.

"Err I forgot how hard you hit" Puck grumbles, still bent over trying to get his breath back.

"Dude, do you like not learn that everytime you sneak up on Serg her immediate reaction is to punch whoever it is" Jordan sniggered.

"I forgot. Damn this heat is frying my brain" he says as he stands up and reaches for his shovel slowly to got back to work.

###

By the end of the day, which is only like 4 in the afternoon, almost all the chairs have been made and a quarter of the tables are done as well. 4 average sized class rooms have their foundations done and another one is half done, leaving only 3 more to be dug out. Making the load on them tomorrow a lot easier.

It was just past 5 when they got back to base. The girls decided they were going to have showers whilst they guys said they have one later and went off to talk about what they call 'men stuff'.

The girls chatted about random things as they were showering.

"So Amy how is that handsome man you call a fiancée?" Blake asks as she is drying off and getting her clothes to put on.

"You better not be wanting to make a move on my man there B" Amy responds whilst pointing an accusing finger at Blake making Santana laugh. "But he is doing rather well if I do say. When I called him the other day he apparently had bought us a puppy" she laughed at the thought of her fiancée, Tristan, looking after a dog.

"Well at least it will be a test to how responsible he is for when he knocks ya up" Santana states rather bluntly, making Blake laugh at the glare received at that comment.

"Hey, I ain't getting prego anytime soon Serg. After all I have a killer body to maintain" Amy says as she steps out of the cubicle in a bra with her towel around her waist.

"That you do" Santana smirks, receiving a wet towel to the face from Amy. Leaving her spluttering and setting Blake off laughing again.

"Oh God I do love it that I got to know you two, you make my life so much more interesting than it was" Blake says after a moment.

"Aww the feelings mutual" Amy says as she comes up behind Blake and hugs her. "Come on Serg you know you want to join in on the hug and that your glad you met us" Amy urges with shrug in Santana's direction.

"Alright" she gives in and joins them. "You know I consider you two the best girl friends I've ever had" Santana then confesses in the moment of silent. The other two girls just nod knowing this rare affection is rare and quite often just present for fleeting moments.

"Anyway enough of this mushy and emotional shit" Santana says as she moves away from the hug to gather her stuff.

The girls follow year lead and head back to their bunks to dump everything off before finding the guys.

###

It doesn't take long for them to find the guys who are waiting outside of the food tent. They then just muck around for a few minutes before they are allowed in to get their dinner.

During dinner it is decided that the group will have a basketball group, to relieve some stress and do something fun. The teams are Santana, Jack, Jared, Connor and Nick versus Puck, Joe, Blake, Amy and Jordan.

As they are getting set up some other squads come and sit near the side lines to watch. Puck then grabs some random dude to referee the match. Puck's team starts off with the ball and the game is on.

His team passes the ball between them a couple of times before start working the ball up the court. Joe fakes a pass to Blake then spins around Santana, before going for a 3 pointer, that then bounces of the rim. Luckily Puck's there and manages to tip the ball over into the hoop.

Santana then passes the ball to Connor from the backline, before making a dash up court and calling for the ball. Before the other team have covered her, she's gotten the ball and shoots a 3 pointer which sinks into the hoop without touching the back board or the rim. Making it 2-3 Santana's team.

The back and forth plays continue for about half an hour before the two teams start to tire. They decide to put in their best player for a 1v1 and the first to score wins the game and bragging rights.

Jared goes in for Santana's team and Puck for his team. The ref throughs the ball up and Jared tips ot to himself, gathering it before trying to dribble around Puck. Who stands his ground and follow each of Jared's movements. However this is causing Jared to get closer to Puck's hoop. After a few more times of trying to dribble around Puck, Jared fakes going right then spins left before racing towards the hoop going up to lay it in. But the ball is blocked by Puck's hand, a large round of 'Oohs' is heard. Puck then gathers it and races it towards Jared's hoop. He gets just inside the 3 pointer line before letting a shot rip which hits off the back board and sinks into the hoop. His team then jump on him whilst sticking their tongues out at the other half of their squad. Other squads then come up to congratulate them.

"Well played" Santana says coming up to Puck and giving him a friendly hug.

"Duh of course it was after all I am the best player here" Puck says with a smug look on his face.

"Asshole, ya just got to go and ruin a moment don't you" Santana says laughing lightly.

"Of course I do. Its my speciality" Puck grins. The two of them make there way towards the rest of the squad.

"Come on guys lets go have fun somewhere indoors, its getting a bit nippy out here" Nick points out. Everyone agrees and starts to make there way towards the bunks.

###

When they get back to the bunks, Santana finds a package on her bed. A small grin forms on her lips as she knows what it is, although there is a small pang of sadness in her chest knowing that there won't be anything for her. She then picks it up and walks over to the others, putting a smile on her face.

"Hey guys its your lucky day" she says as she holds up the mail to her squad. All there eyes light up and if you look carefully in some of there eyes there os even tears. This is as getting mail isn't quite regular, as you could be moving around a lot so it takes ages for it to get to you.

She starts passing all the mail out and once there is nothing else to hand out everyone retreats back to there bunks. Santana just goes and lies on hers staring up a nothing wishing that she had someone, so they could send her stuff like the others get. It doesn't take to long before a shadow appears over her and a large body is wrapping their arms around her.

"Hey, apparently Sarah has just gotten onto the varsity cheerleading squad" he says with a grin.

"That's awesome" Santana says glad that Puck doesn't ask her questions on how she is feeling write now.

"Mum also says that you have to come back with me after we have finished here, to visit her as it has been to long" Puck carries on.

"I would like that I miss Linda and Sarah" Santana says after a pause.

"Good, I'm glad that is sorted" Puck sniggers, knowing that if she didn't say yes his mother would ring her up and have some choice words, that would probably make her feel like a scolded little kid again.

A little while later he leaves to go to his bunk after saying night to everyone. Leaving her to let her mind run wild for a bit before she drifts off to sleep, with that funny feeling making its appearance again.

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 **Hope everyone is enjoying it. A couple more chapters then Brittany makes her appearance.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hope you all enjoy it.**

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A couple of days had passed since they had started re-building the school in the local village. The squad had successfully built all the tables and chairs for the classrooms, plus they had finished digging the foundations for the classrooms and had leveled all the floors. Thanks to Puck who had o ce helped build a garage in his high school life to earn a bit of extra money during the summer.

Today they were going to start filling the foundations with cement for the floors, of the classrooms.

###

"Come on Puck move that fat ass" Santana shouts as she sees he is still in bed and that if he doesn't get up, be won't get any breakfast. Which wouldn't be a good idea when they are going to be doing a lot of physical work today.

"I can't remember the last time I did this much work over a couple of days" he groans as he moves into a sitting position searching for his clothes.

"Same. But God does it feel good to have that ache in your muscles when ya get up the next day" Santana muses as she stretches.

"I swear you get weirder everyday" Puck stares at her with a 'what the fuck are you talking about face'. "And why would that be a good thing anyway." He finishes with whilst putting his boots on.

"I'm not weird and because it feels like you have accomplished something."

"Ok. Lets go get some breakfast. I think your starting to go delirious or something, as you are normally the laziest person I know, well second to me of course." Puck grins and stands up before throwing his arm around Santana's shoulder and walking out the tent.

###

"Morning Serg" Connor mumbles through a mouthful of food.

"Morning guys" Santana says back as she sits around the table were the squad is sat.

Just as she is about to take her second spoonful of cereal she hears "Hey San, you know stuff about basketball right?" Blake shouts at her from the other end of the table.

She sighs internally, before asking sceptically and placing her spoon back in her bowl. "Yeah, why?"

"Well its just that I think Kobe Bryant is the best player at the moment, but thing 1 here" she says pointing at Jack who is next to her "thinks that LeBron James is instead". Blake then crosses her arms and asks " So who's right?"

Jack sits there pointing to himself, while Blake mouths that she is right. "Well I personally think that they are as good as each other" Santana tells them with a straight face and a nonchalant shrug before going back to her cereal.

"Really Serg that's your answer" Jack whines, wanting to be right for o ce against Blake.

"Yep" she replies popping the 'p' and giving a single nod of her head making everyone around the table chuckle at their friends.

The pair then give a simultaneous huff, making everyone chuckle again before carrying on with their breakfast. Once everyone has finished they head back to their bunks to gather their gear, before heading to the trucks to go to the village.

###

The village was relatively quiet this morning with everyone just getting on with their jobs.

Puck and Connor were mixing up some cement for the foundations, whilst Nick, Jared, Jordan and Joe went to check that the villages perimeter was ok and to give the soldiers who normally do it an hours break. That then left Santana, Amy, Blake and Jack clearing up any rubbish and waste material that was lying around to make the place look a bit tidier. They then went to see if there was any odd jobs that they could do around the place.

Around 9'ish the first batch of cement was ready, so Puck poured it in the space that would be a classroom floor and lets Santana and Jack make sure it was level and smooth. It took them about 15 minutes to do that and they were pretty pleased with themselves.

Connor them came over to them to tell them that the next batch of cement would be ready in about 10 minutes. So Santana and Jack thought they would go get a drink first.

###

 **Santana's POV**

"I'm laughing my head off at Jack, who is pouring water over his head as if he was in a wet t-shirt competition. He then rings out his shirt before downing a cup of water and walking over too me.

"What are you laughing at?" He says in a serious voice just making me laugh harder. "Come on Serg lets go back to work" he continues giving me a mock salute, before he walks in the direction of the school.

I just shake my head and follow him.

I have only taken 5 or 6 steps before I hear gunfire to the east of me. "Shit!" I shout while sprinting to where I left my gear.

Once I get there I put my vest and helmet on and then grab my rifle. I then sprint in the direction of gunfire.

As I get closer to it I move as stealthily as I can to avoid bringing any attention to myself, so I have the element of surprise on my side. I can just see Jared and Jordan from my position, who are behind a wall. I then look around to see if anything offers protection to me, so I can get to them.

I can't see anything so my only chance to get to them is to leg it across the open area in front of me. I quickly look around and check the tops of buildings before rising my rifle and going for it.

I'm just about to reach them, when gunfire cones from the right of me causing me to quickly dive towards the other two. Who then take the shooter out. I then sit there for a few moments getting my breath back and composing myself before I rejoin the action.

"You alright Serg" I hear from my right.

I look at Jared and nod "Yeah just a little too close for comfort is all."

I then readjust my grip on my rifle and ready myself. "You guys know where anyone else is?"

"No sorry Serg it just happened so fast and we got split up from the others. But there is one of the soldiers who we took over from not looking to good over there" Jordan points to the right of them in front of the wall.

I quickly stick my head around the wall to assess the situation. As I duck back round bullets whiz past over the top of us.

"Alright I'm going to make a break for it, whilst you two cover me" the two soldiers nod their heads. "Do either of you have a med kit with you?"

"Umm, yeah here" Jordan responds as he quickly searches himself for it.

"Ok on the count of three" I say slowly looking into both their eyes hoping that we all get through this.

"One..two..three!" I give them a few seconds to get sorted and let of a few rounds before I dash round the wall, in the direction of the injured guy.

When I reach him, I grab him by his vests strap and drag him behind the closest wall to us. I then put my rifle down and quickly assess his injuries before pulling out the med kit, Jordan gave me and placing a gauze on his right shoulder were a bullet seems to of hit him.

I then slap his cheeks a bit trying to get him to wake up. "Come on man wake up."

After the fourth slap to his cheeks his eyes flutter open. "Hey you know where you are?" I ask, he just nods his head. "Alright, keep pressure on this and help is on its way" I say as I place his left hand on top of the gauze.

I then look around the wall and see a small figure out in the open knelt by a body on the floor. I quickly survey the area and see a wall near a house which will offer protection, not to far from the figure. Immediately a plan forms in my head.

"You going to be alright here soldier?" I ask quickly ask while making sure my rifle is loaded.

"Yeah" he answers in a gruff voice.

"Good. I'll see you on the other side then" once I've said this I dash out from behind cover and head towards the figure as fast as I can.

As I'm nearing them they look up. "Tamira" I say quietly, it is then that I recognise the figure on the floor to be her mother. I then look back up at her face and see tears streaming down it freely. I remember the feeling that consumes you when you lose someone close to you like that.

 **Flashback**

 _'Yes' I thought one more period and I can get out of this hell hole. Its only been 3 weeks since I started my freshman year and I hate high school. There is just so much work to be done._

 _I've just sat down when someone from reception comes I to the classroom a d shows my teacher a note. He then looks at me and calls me over and to bring my stuff with me._

 _I must have a confused look on my face, as he reassures me that I'm not in trouble and that the principle wants to talk about something with me. I then follow the women from reception to the principles office. Just before she leaves she turns and gives me a sympathetic look, which leaves me really confused._

 _As I step into the room I notice that Miss Pillsbury our schools guidance councillor is there, as well as two police officers. Suddenly a sense of dread fills me._

 _"Are you Santana Lopez?" One of the officers asks me. I just nod not trusting my voice._

 _"I'm sorry to inform you that hour parents, Antonio and Lucia Lopez have been involved in a car crash" the second officer says in a solemn voice._

 _"What-what h-happened? A-Are they ok?" I stutter frantically, my voice cracking at the end._

 _"A truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and ran a red light. Your Dad was driving and died on impact the doctors say, as the truck hit his side of the car first before it rolled." The first officer explains._

 _"Your Mum is at Lima general right now. We can take you there once, you have authorised access to leave" the first officer continues. All I can do is just nod. I feel like my whole world is falling apart._

 _Since being told everything, everything else has just become a blur, until we arrive at the hospital. We walk over to the nurses station. One of the nurses there then takes me to ICU where my Mum is, whilst the officers stay begin. I vaguely here something about them contacting social services._

 _When I get to ICU, my mum is just lying there with loads of tubes attached to her and a big bandage around her head as well as a dressing which I peaking out the top of the gown on her chest. I run over to her grabbing her hand and just break down, sobbing for her not to leave me over and over again._

 _I stop after a while and just stare at her for a bit, before a nurse brings over a chair for me. I sit in it still holding her hand and slowly drift off to sleep._

 _I'm suddenly awoken by a loud beeping noise, causing me to sit up to see what is happening. Next thing I know doctors and nurses are running into the room. One nurses comes over to me and practically drags me out of the room, once I realise what is happening._

 _I'm literally kicking and screaming as hard as I can and the nurse just wraps their arms round me and holds me close._

 _5 minutes later a doctor comes out with a solemn look on his face and I just start sobbing again, knowing he is about to tell me they couldn't save my mum. No 13 year old should have to deal with something like this I think to myself._

 **End of flashback**

It takes me a couple more strides to reach her. Just as I'm about to reach her a searing pain goes through my right soldier. I nearly collapse from the pain but then I see Tamira's eyes that have fear in them and push through the pain, swinging my rifle on to my left shoulder so I can grab her with my left arm and head towards the wall for protection.

I'm literally three strides away when I hear a clink at my feet, as something metallic hits the ground. Next thing I know there is an explosion behind me and I'm thrown forwards.

As soon as I hit the ground everything goes black, but I can still feel Tamira in my arms.

###

 **Puck's POV**

Connor had just came back from telling San and Jack that the next batch of cement would be ready soon.

"I gotta question for you. Are you ever going to shave that stupid thing of your face?" I say with a chuckle, only to get a glare in return.

Connor starts stroking his goaty before saying "I'll shave it off, when you shave that weird thing of of your head."

"Touché."

We are just talk about some nonsense stuff, when we hear gunfire come from the west of us. I quickly grab my gear, which is propped up by the cement mixer and grab my rifle before heading towards the noise, with Connor hot on my heels.

I see a group of what looks to be Taliban's pinning Nick and Joe behind a car.

"Hey Nick!" I shout trying to get there attention. Nick looks at me and I signal to him that me and Connor are going to cover them, so they can get to some better cover.

Me and Connor then start shooting towards those pinning the two in behind the car, which diverts there attention to us giving Nick and Joe time to move.

Once they are in a better position me and Connor duck down to reload our rifles.

I've finished reloading so I peek around the wall and see Santana picking up a child and dashing towards a gap in between a wall and a building. But just as she is about to reach it I see something flung towards the floor and I realise it is a grenade and that it has landed by her trailing leg. It then explodes throwing her forward into the gap.

"SANTANA!" I shout, which gets the attention of Connor who looks in the same direction as me.

I can't tell where she is as there is a dust cloud, caused by the explosion in front of where the gap was. Just then I here trucks coming from behind, I look back and see that they are our back up.

Immediately we start pushing forward and the Taliban start falling back. I see an opening and sprint in the direction of Santana, I don't get to far before there is a white hot pain emitting from my left thigh, causing me to stumble and fall.

I quickly look down at my thigh and see that is blood pouring from a small hole that wasn't there before. So I grab my knife and cut the strap from my rifle, so I can tie it just above the wound to try and stem the bleeding.

Once it is secure I grab my rifle and get back up and hobble to my destination. As I get closer I can make out a leg sticking out from begin a wall. When I get around the corner and into the gap I see that part of the wall next to her has crumbled and landed on her lower left leg crushing it. I then notice that her body is covering a smaller one.

I quickly check San's pulse and find it. I let out a breath I ahd been holding before gently removing the smaller figure from beneath her. As soon as I get them out I recognize her too be the little girl that Santana was talking to a few days ago.

I check that she is breathing, before checking the rest of her body for any immediate injuries. I can't find any other injuries just that she is unconscious. I then gently place her on the ground near me, so I can check over San properly.

I take her helmet off first and see she has a gash on her forehead but it doesn't look to bad. I then take her vest off and find a bullet wound to her right shoulder. 'At least we'll have some badass scars' I think to myself bitterly, while applying pressure to the wound. I then chance a look at her leg and know that their is nothing I can do but shout for help, hoping a field doctor is nearby.


	5. Chapter 4

**Puck's POV**

I have been shouting for help for a few minutes when I hear multiple foots steps coming towards us. I quickly snatch up my rifle in my left hand, while still holding my fight hand over Santana's gun shot wound, just in case it is not someone here to help me.

There is three of them who come into view. I recognise Connor being there with a doctor and another soldier. I then lower my rifle and place it on the ground next to me.

"Thank God" I mutter to myself.

"Hey what we got here?" The doc asks as she puts her kit down and opens it.

"Umm... 24 year old female with a gash on her head, bullet wound to her right shoulder and left leg crushed under rubble by the looks of it" I quickly rattle out as the doc nods at the information.

"Ok. If you could remove your hand from her shoulder so I can get a look at it." I do as the doc says and move back a little bit to give her some more room to work on. I then watch as she gets some gauze and places it over the wound, to soak up some blood. She then removes the gauze throwing it to the ground then prodding the surrounding area, before getting some more gauze and taping it there, so she can gently reach under Santana to see if the bullet exited or not.

"Alright it looks like the bullet hasn't exited so we'll have to try and not jostle her too much as it could cause more damage" the doc explains to me and Connor, who is knelt down by her head.

"Hey Puck, who's the little girl here?" Connor says pointing to Tamira.

"Santana saved her, she is the little girl she was talking to the first day we got to the village" I explain.

"Oh yeah I remember."

The doc then grabs some more stuff out of her kit handing me a piece of gauze as she moves towards San's left leg. I must have a confused look on my face as she says "It's for your leg." I just nod my head dumbly and place the gauze on my leg, after forgetting all about it.

The doc then carefully examined San's leg, without touching the rubble that is on top of it. She has a forlorn look on her face as she quickly grabs her kit and rummages through it, finally pulling out a belt looking type thing and tied it just above Santana's left knee.

She then turns to the other soldier standing there. "Hey you, can you go back to the trucks to see if there is another doctor. Tell them to bring a stretcher as well ,and come back here." She rushes out, the soldier nods quickly before running in the direction of the trucks.

"What's wrong?" I ask concerned.

"It appears that her lower left leg has been blown off. Was there an explosion?" I nod my head. "Ok, then this rock here has landed on her leg crushing it more, but also slowing down the bleeding. Otherwise she would of probably bled to death very quickly, depending on what was damaged." She explains while pointing to the rubble.

Finding out this news leaves me stunned, I then turn my head to look at Connor who just has a shocked look on his face and is staring down at Santana's left leg.

Just then the soldier returns with another doctor and a stretcher. "Hey Mark, we have got a 24 year old female, bullet wound to right shoulder and missing lower leg. Which at the moment is crushed under this rock." She states in a very clinical way.

"I have tied a strap around just above her knee to help slow the blood down and was just waiting for you as I needed more hands, to tie off the blood vessels and artery. So when can then move her" she continues.

"Alright lets do this" the doc called Mark says. They then work quickly and quietly.

I can't watch them work so I just look down at San's face, which looks so peaceful and stroke her hair. Connor in the other hand jumps up and runs around the corner, to where I hear him throwing up.

It only took the two doctors about 10 minutes to finish what they were doing and cover San's injuries with gauze. They then removed the rubble from San's leg, sighing in relief when the sutures hold and no blood is spurting out.

As they were packing their kit away I spoke up "Hey could one of you maybe check this little girl out as well?"

Mark nods his head and moves over to Tamira, as the female doctor starts unfolding the stretcher and placing it besides Santana's left side. Ready for when we put her on it.

"It just looks like she might have concussion and is knocked out for now. But you could bring her bag with us just in case Mark says after a moment of silence.

"Sure" I agree knowing its what Santana would want.

"Ok then if you" the female do says pointing to me "could hold her head and you" she points to Connor this time "grab her shoulders gently, me and Mark will get her lower half" she explains.

"In the count of three slowly and gently roll her over. One...two...three!" The move goes smoothly and Santana is placed on the stretcher. The docs then strap her down securely and place a brace on her neck to be cautious.

"Alright me and Mark will take Santana?" She says unsurely. I nod my head and she continues "And you can take the little girl" she says poi ti g to Connor as I'm injured.

We then slowly make our way to the trucks, to take us back to camp.

###

The journey to camp felt like a blur to me. I just sat their holding Santana's hand hoping that she was going to be alright.

As soon as the truck stops the back door is thrown open and there is two guys dressed in plastic aprons and gloves, and two other soldiers there ready to transport Santana to the med area.

I let them take her first, before carefully climbing out of the truck. I then wait for Connor to climb out still holding Tamira in his arms. Mark then leads us to the med area.

Once there I am instructed to sit down on a bed, as I see Santana taken through a curtained off area. Connor then sets Tamira down on the bed next to me and then proceeds to take off his gear, dropping it on the floor once it is off. That then prompts me to do the same.

Not long after a doctor comes over to look at my leg and says that it is a through and through and that I will need some stitches for it. As well as this I'll probably be off duty and on leave for a few months. Plus I will have to have some physiotherapy as there will be scat tissue which could be a problem down the line.

He then gives me some crutches and tells me to stay off my leg and that I will be sent home with someone else who has just been brought in, on the helicopter which is due to come in to day. Not realising that I know Santana.

After that he then moves over to check on Tamira and how her vitals are.

I then look up and see Connor pacing.

"Hey dude, why don't you go get us a couple of chairs to sit on?" All I receive is a wordless nod and then he has lft the area.

He comes back a few minutes later placing the chairs either side of Tamira's bed.

We sit in silence for close to 10 minutes until I cant bear kit anymore. "Thanks by the way" I say quietly not entirely sure he heard it.

I then get a mumbled "Why?"

"Because you stayed, because you brought help, because you heard me" I say in a rushed breath.

"Oh ok. I knew you would of done the same if that had been my best friend." He says with a shrug.

"Well then when you get back to the states come visit us in Lima and I'll buy you a beer."

"Your on" he says with a small smile. The first I've seen since this morning.

###

 **No one's POV**

Puck and Connor had been sitting by Tamira's bed for about 20 minutes, when Puck saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey Connor, can you go find a doctor as I think she's coming around" he says indicating to the little girl.

"Sure" he says and quickly got up to look for a doctor who doesn't look to busy.

Whilst Connor did that Puck moved his chair closer to the bed. It took him a bit of effort to do so, as he was trying not to put any weight on his injured leg. When he was comfortable he looked back up at the small figure who was moving around more on the bed than earlier.

Puck then put o e of his hands on Tamira's. As he did that her eyes shot open. Puck could see fear and pain in her eyes.

"Hey, hey calm down in Noah a friend of Santana's. Do you remember her?" He said in a soft voice.

Tamira nods her head and asks in a quiet voice "Is she ok? I remember her picking me up and running."

Puck didn't know really how Santana was doing but he just says "She's going to be alright, the doctors are patching her up right now."

"Good, because I want to thank her" she says again I that small quiet voice.

Just then Connor comes back with the doctor. Puck nods hi head in thanks to Connor.

"Hi I'm Dr Andrews" the doctor says introducing himself to everyone before focusing on Tamira. "What your name?"

"Tamira" she says quietly.

"That's a pretty name. Do you mind if I check your for any injuries?"

She shakes her head slowly.

Dr Andrews slowly but thoroughly checks the little girls head. Once he is finished he speaks up again. "Well Tamira your head looks alright, but you may have a sire head for a couple of days, due to the lump you have on your head."

"Ok" she says with a small nod of her head, understanding what she had been told.

"And here for being a good patient" Dr Andrews produces a lollipop, making Tamira let out a big smile and causing Puck and Connor to chuckle. "I'll leave you to it then."

Tamira lets out a quiet thank you before he leaves though. Shortly after the doctor leaves and they've been sitting in silence as Tamira eats he lollipop, a tall dark skinned man comes in behind Jack and Joe looking frantically around for someone.

Tamira then see's him and shouts out "Baba!" The man then comes running over to where Puck, Connor and Tamira are. Once he gets there he hugs Tamira tightly too him.

He then looks over at Puck and Connor and says "Thank you."

"We didn't really do anything, just brought her here to be looked at by a doctor" Puck says and gives a nonchalant shrug.

"Well who can I thank then?" He asks determined to say thanks to whoever saved his daughters life.

"Umm...it was our Sergeant. Sergeant Santana Lopez, but she is in surgery right now as she was hurt pretty badly" Puck answers him hesitantly at first but hen with sadness in his voice, trying not to think about it too much.

"Ok, could I maybe write her something and then you give it to her?" He asks Puck as Connor has walked away to go stand by Jack and Joe, to update them on what is going on.

"Yeah sure" Puck says in a firm voice. "Just let me go get you some paper and a pen." With that Puck hops off on his crutches out of the tent and towards his own bunk. Where he knows there is one paper and wanting to get some fresh air.

As he got to his bunk Puck stated to think about Santana and he got this feeling in his stomach he couldn't explain but made him anxious and nervous. That wasn't what worried him the most though, what was is the fact they've been here for nearly an hour and half if not more and no one had told them what was happening.

When he had the pad of paper and a pen in hand he made his way back to the medical tent. Deciding on the way after that thought, that once he'd given the paper to Tamira's father he would go ask someone for any news on Santana.

###

Puck finally got a hold of someone who knew what was happening, 10 minutes after he had re-entered the tent. They told him that it should be about another 30 minutes before they were finished and that he could talk to the doctor who did the surgery then.

He said thanks and walked over, well hoped,to Tamira and her father, who had finished writing his letter.

"Here is your stuff back" Tamira's father says handing Puck his pad of paper and pen back. "And here is the letter, could you please give it to her when she wakes up."

"yep, sure I can do that." Puck says accepting the letter in one hand.

"Well thank you for helping..."

"Noah" Puck supplies for him.

"Thank you Noah for making sure my daughter was safe" with that the man sticks out his hand allowing Puck to accept it and shake it.

Jack then stepped forward and told everyone they would be escorting Tamira and her father back to the village.

Once they left, Puck was left standing next to Connor. He then turned to him and asked "Did you tell them Tamira was here and to find her parents?"

"Yeah" he answers. "It was the least I could do."

"Yeah" he says in return. They stand there together for a few minutes in silence just in their own little world before Puck speaks up again.

"Oh yeah San's suppose to be out of surgery soon, so we can talk to the doctor about what's going on properly." Connor gives a small smile at this.

###

25 minutes later a doctor walks out from begin the curtained off area, and is directed towards Puck and Connor. Who are sitting in the chairs again not really doing anything.

"Hi I'm Dr Hunt, I operated on your friend Sergeant Lopez." The doctor says to the two men who immediately sit up.

"I'm Noah Puckerman and that is Connor Wright" Puck introduces them. "What did you have to do during surgery?" He then asks impatiently wanting to know what is going with his best friend.

"Well I'm taking that you know already that her left leg suffered some damage, which resulted in her left foot being severed off and half of her lower leg" Dr Hunt explains pointing to his own leg to help show them were. He receives nods from the two men.

"We then had to clean that up and remove some more bone to be able to create a flap to cover the other tissue in the leg, leaving her with a stump just below the knee. However even though we've done this when she gets back to the states the doctors will reassess her leg and take some scans to see if there is anymore damage. This could then mean that her leg will be amputated above the knee instead of below like it is now to prevent further complications later on." Puck and Connor nod along to all this information, not letting any emotion show on their faces though.

"Ok she was also shot in her right shoulder, but the bullet didn't exit and as we don't have a lot of high tech equipment here we've had to leave the bullet in. As well as this she hit her head so to try and prevent anymore serious injuries from happening we've put her into a medical coma." Dr Hunt further explains.

"What do you mean further injury?" Connor asks from his spot.

"Well its been known in some cases for the patient to panic when they get told that they lost a limb, and with Santana still having a bullet in her shoulder she could move it. If it did move worst case scenario is she loses all movement in her right arm."

The two men sit there absorbing everything they get told.

"Oh...Ok, umm do you know what time we are suppose to be flying out?" Puck says breaking the silence as his mind is trying to wrap around all the information he's been given.

"I'm guessing about 2 o'clockish," Dr Hunt says as the helicopters normally come in early, in the morning and leave base between 1:30pm and 2:30pm.

"Thank you" Puck then says sincerely not talking about Dr Hunt giving him the time when they leave, but everything else he has done.

"Alright, well if you need me before you leave then you'll most likely find me in here. Good luck with your recovery, you and your friend." With that the Dr Hunt walks away.

"How about we head out of here for a bit get some food, update the rest of the squad, pack your stuff then come back?" Connor says trying to keep his friend doing stuff, so he doesn't think about everything and get lost in his head.

"Yeah, ok. Lets do that" Puck says nodding his head in agreement whilst grabbing his crutches from beside him.

####

 **'Baba' means daddy in Arabic.**


	6. Chapter 5

They had updated the rest of the squad whilst they ate some food, in the food tent.

Others the others had been told when Puck and Santana were leaving, Amy and Blake volunteered to pack Santana's stuff for Puck. He was grateful for that as he didn't really want to stumble across anything girl related, as it kind of gave him the creeps.

When the three of them had finished packing everything they made there way over to the med tent.

The guys were just finishing saying goodbye to their Sergeant and each had a letter for Puck to give her when she wakes up. Blake drops Puck bag a the end of the bed and Amy does the same with Santana's, before turning to their Sergeant to say bye even though they know she wont hear them. They turn to Puck and hand him one letter from between the both of them, to add to the stack of them he is already holding.

Puck then puts them in his bag before turning to his comrades, who hug him or shake his hand wishing him the best of luck on recovering.

"Alright, alright enough of this sappy shit" Puck says after everyone has said what they want to say. "I've already said this to Connor, but once everyone is on leave ya need to come to Lima and I'll buy everyone a drink". At that he gets a smile out of everyone.

"You can count us in" Jack and Joe say simultaneously, never ones to turn down free booze, making everyone chuckle.

After that everyone agrees to it and starts to leave as doctors come in and start to prepare to move Santana. Connor stays though to carry Santana's bag knowing Puck wouldn't be able to carry both of them.

10 minutes pass before the two are standing by the helicopter shaking hands.

"Look after everyone" Puck says.

"Will do as long as you look after her" he replies moving his head in the direction of Santana.

"I can't promise you that with her she never does as she's told but I'll try." Connor gives a small his head knowing that Puck was right. "Right well I guess I'll be seeing you later then" Puck tells his friend slightly readjusting his grip on his crutches knowing this may be the last time he see's his friend for a long time.

"Yeah catch you later" Connor says before turning and walking away.

Puck looks around one last tine before getting on the helicopter. A few minutes later and they are in the air on the way home.

Puck must of fallen asleep not long after they had taken off, because when he opens his eyes he is informed that they are about 2 hours away from there destination. He asks were exactly that is and they tell him North Carolina.

The doctor on board who flew with them explains to Puck that they will be going to North Carolina because there is a military hospital there, with staff trained specifically to deal with injuries that are gained in war. He is also informed that once there a doctor will be assigned to both of them to reassess their injuries and to see if Santana has any more injuries than those obvious.

For those next few hours Puck just looks out the window watching everything go by, whilst holding Santana's hand in his stroking his thumb gently over the back of it.

He hadn't quite realised how long he had been looking out the window until he felt them slowing down and saw the landing pad on top of a building come into view.

It didn't take them long to land and get everything unloaded and put Santana onto a gurney that was waiting for her along with 2 doctors and 2 nurses. Although one nurse had a wheelchair for Puck.

Once they were all set everyone was lead to the elevator to take them down to the level were Santana and Puck would be on.

Puck had been sitting in a cubicle for about 10 minutes waiting for someone to come see him, after one of the doctors who met them on the roof called Dr Smith told him that they would be taking Santana for some scans.

"Hi I'm Dr Cray" a woman in a white lab coat says stepping past the curtains.

"Noah Puckerman" he smiles in response.

"Nice to meet you, I'm here just to check your stitches and to take you for a scan to make sure there is no serious damage to the thigh tissue or your femur" she explains.

"Cool" Puck shrugs and moves back on the bed so he can place his legs flat on it. Thankfully he had changed into shorts before his left base so he wouldn't have to wear one of those ridiculous gowns.

Dr Cray then moves a trolley from outside the cubicle in, that has lots of medical equipment on and a stool. Once she is comfortable she then grabs some scissors and carefully cuts the bandage before gently peeling it away and discarding it.

She then gently prods the area making Puck hiss in pain. "Sorry" she says.

"It's alright just wasn't expecting it" Puck grins trying to look tough.

"Well everything looks good on the outside, no sign of infection" she says wiping the wound with an antiseptic wipe. "I'll just get a porter who will take you up for the scan."

Puck starts to protest about not needing a wheelchair. "No buts, Mr Puckerman" Dr Cray says in stern voice as she exits.

It surprised Puck that it only took about 20 minutes to get back to his cubicle after going for his scan, thinking it would take longer. When the porter left he hobbled over to his bag to search for his phone, thinking he should probably let his Ma know what's going on and not just turn up on her doorstep when they get to Lima. Or worse case scenario she has a shift when they get to the hospital in Lima, cause he knows that he will be in deep shit.

'Ah ha' he thinks to himself when his fingers find it at the bottom of his bag, where it had sunk to even though he packed it last. He grabbed it and pulled it out, quickly turning it on hoping that it had some battery left.

When his home screen appeared he looked at the top corner, which told him he had 52% battery. He sighed to himself as he started dialling his Ma's number.

It rang a couple time before his Ma picked up. "Hi Ma" he said closing his eyes wondering how she was going to react.

"Hello Noah, why are you calling me? I thought you couldn't use your phone on base" she said hesitantly in a nervous tone not knowing if she was going to like what he had to say.

"Well...umm...I'm not allowed but I'm not on base" he answered taking a big breath readying himself to tell her what happened. "You see there was an... um incident" he stuttered mentally face palming at his choice of words.

"What type of incident and are you alright?" His Ma responded in a slightly panicked voice, trying to stop her mind travelling to worst case scenarios.

"We were attacked and Santana being her self had to go be the hero" he explained in that you know what I'm talking about way.

"How bad is it?"

He could hear the worry in her voice. "She took a bullet to her right shoulder, quite a lot of damage to her lower left leg and she hit her head. And I may of kinda got shot in the leg" he adds on sheepishly knowing that if je had been just a little more careful then it would t of happened.

"Oh my God! Where are you?" She manages to get out in her slightly panicked state.

"We're in North Carolina, bit we'll hopefully be transferred to Lima General soon. So don't go hop on a plane or bus here." Puck adds on knowing she actually would do it.

"Ok, well let us know how everything is soon and when to expect you here" she chuckles at her son knowing her so well.

Out of the corner of his eye Puck sees Dr Cray coming his way. "Anyway I've got to go cause my doctors coming back. I love you and tell Sarah I also love her."

"I will do, update us soon love you" she says before Puck hangs up and puts his phone in his lap just as Dr Cray walks into his cubicle.

"Alright the scans show that there is no severe damage" she states studying the scans on her tablet. "So I'll just re-bandage your leg and I'll take you to see your friend."

"Awesome" Puck grins bouncing in his seat slightly at being able to were Santana. Dr Cray laughs thinking he looks like a child who got told they were allowed some ice cream.

As they got to Santana's room they were approached by a doctor. Puck recognised him as one of them who had met them on them on the roof.

"Hi I'm Dr Black. I'm in charge of your friend Santana's case" he explained to Puck.

"Ok. I'm Noah" Puck responds offering his hand out to the doctor to shake who accepts it.

"Right well now that we have introduced ourselves why don't we go into Santana's room so I can explain the course of action we will be taking." Once Dr Black has finished speaking, Dr Cray turns to Puck informing him to try and stay off his leg as much as possible and wishes him good luck and that she will do a check up before he leaves the hospital.

They slowly make their way down the corridor ro Santana's room as puck was still getting used to the nee crutches he was given. When they enter the room Puck goes over and takes a seat in the chair next to Santana's bed whilst Dr Black Puck's up a set of notes.

"Right well we have sent her for some scans which show that the bullet in her right shoulder has caused minimal damage and a minor surgery will be needed to remove it." Dr Black starts off as he walks over to the other side of the bed opposite Puck. Who just nods to the information being given to him with a relieved smile on his face that there is no more major damage to his already hurt friend.

"Ok, we have also examined her leg again and from what we can see on the outside and feel everything looks good. But we are still waiting for the scans to come back to check if there is any more damage internally that needs to be fixed." He continues flicking through the notes before closing them and looking up at Puck. "For this reason we have then still got her in a medically induced coma, but hopefully by the end of the day we will be bringing her out of it."

"Ok. Well that all sounds good." Puck says sighing a bit in relief but still feeling quite apprehensive about how she will take all this information and change to her body in when she wakes up.

"Do you have any questions?" Dr Black asks putting Santana's notes back at the end of the bed.

"No, I don't but if I do ill cone find you and ask." Puck tells him.

"Alright then well hopefully we'll have the scans back soon and then get her into surgery to remove that bullet." Dr Black says checking his watch.

"That sounds like a plan" Puck says. Dr Black then leaves letting Puck finally take in his injured friend next to him on the bed.

As he looks her over he notices how pale her skin is, that their is loads of tubes attached to her and so many cuts and bruise which he hadn't realised she had. He then takes in deep breath, while running his hand over his head and face trying to ignore the sting behind his eyes, wondering why she had to be the one to be injured like this.


	7. Chapter 6

**Sorry for not updating in a while, school was kicking my butt this year. Hope you enjoy.**

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Santana's scans had came back and and Dr Black was happy with everything that he saw concerning her leg and pleased to find no bleed in her brain, from the knock her head took. After informing Puck he called an anaesthetist down to bring Santana out of the coma.

Once the doctors have left the room after reducing the medicine, that was keeping Santana in the induced coma. They gave Puck instructions to either alert them by finding someone or pushing the button on her bed which will be seen at the nurses station, when she starts coming around.

Puck settled himself into a chair that was placed by her bed, resting his head against the back and just watching his friend and wondering how she was going to react to her situation. After an hour or so of just watching his friend Puck drifted off to sleep, everything finally catching up to him.

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 **Santana POV**

I feel a pulsing pain, within the darkness I see all around me. I try to open my eyes, which is harder than I thought. I try again and I'm immediately blinded with light, I close my eyes again. This time I open them slowly letting them adjust to the brightness. Once they have I notice the pulsing of pain is mainly coming from my left leg and a small throbbing sensation is coming from my right shoulder. After determining this I realise that my whole body feels heavy and a bit detached from my head.

I take a deep breath before slowly turning my head to the right to start surveying my surroundings. I quickly take in the heart machine and IV drip. I then slowly turn to my left to see a sleeping Puck in a chair, with a a glass window behind him. Making me realise I'm in hospital, but this one doesn't look like one you'd find in warzone, so i quickly deduct I must of been flown somewhere. This little bit of knowledge makes me groan as I must have an injury bad enough to be flown out somewhere.

My groan must of been louder than I thought as Puck's eyes snap open and his hand immediately goes to his mouth to wipe any dribble away he might have. "San" he says in a quiet voice almost a whisper as he himself is unsure on the situation.

I go to speak but find my throat incredibly dry, so another groan comes out. Puck must take this as confirmation as he is quickly up on his feet or rather one as he hop's over to the table beside my bed to pour some water into a cup with a straw, before handing it to me. "Hey, San take small sips its easier" he says as reaching over me to press a button.

I give what I think is a confused look to him, to ask what's he doing. "I'm just notifying the doctors you coming out of your beauty sleep" he says with a small smirk but not his usually full out one making me think something really bad has happened to me.

A minute later a doctor in a white coat walks in, with a small smile. But something about the smile sets me on edge and dread is settling into my stomach.

"Hi I'm Dr Black and I'm your doctor for your stay here." He says as he picks up my chart.

"Hi, where is here may I ask?" Glancing at Puck.

"North Carolina" Dr Black responds. I'm quickly racking my brain for information about North Carolina that I know and I remember about the military hospital situated there.

"Ok, so erm, what's wrong with me doc?" I say taking a deep breath readying myself.

"First question what is the last thing you remember?"

I think back and remember building a school then hearing gun shots, before finding some of my men and seeing an injured soldier. I help the soldier then see a small girl over a body out in the open. "Tamira, I remember seeing her and grabbing her and running and then everything goes black." I say with a look of concentration on my face.

"She's the girl San here saved" Puck supplies to the doctor, who was looking like he was about to ask who that was.

"Ok, well from I've heard and saw you were shot in your right shoulder. It was not a through and through so you've had minor surgery to remove it." I nod my head to this information waiting for the but. "There was also an explosion by the looks of it that went off near you, this apparently caused you to be thrown forward and knock your head in the process." I once again nod my head and hold my breath, as I have a feeling I'm not going to like what he says next.

"Now when that explosion went off it appears it did by your left foot. This then caused your left foot to be severed off." At this my heart drops and all breath leaves my body. I was not expecting that. "As well as this the explosion caused a nearby wall to collapse and some rubble then crushed the lower half of your left leg damaging it more. This probably saved your life as it slowed the bleeding down but it meant you had emergency surgery in the field hospital where your left leg was amputated to just below the knee."

After the docs last word the room is just silent, that you could hear a pin drop. Puck is sat in the chair chewing his nails, anxiety and worry coming off of him in waves. I just sit there for a few minutes staring straight ahead. Then anger. Humiliation. Irritation. Grief. Sorrow. Desperation. Fear. Loss. Loneliness. Pain. All jump to the front of my mind in that moment.

I feel so much anger. Anger for anything and everything. At the world, at that stupid warzone I was in, myself, my doctors for doing their job. I know these feelings are irrational and are just coming from fear, but I just feel like lashing out and pushing everyone else away. As I know it will protect me from anymore pain.


End file.
